Burdens of Command
by Comic Rocker
Summary: James deals with the burden of being an Inspector and has to deal with the heavier burden of having the youngest male offspring of his dead friend for a Sergeant. This is a followup to Rest In Peace


**Taking His Place**

Hathaway looked around the office he and Lewis had shared together for so long. It seemed so empty now that Lewis had gone. Hathaway had now taken the liberty of having Lewis's desk cleared the moment he heard the news about Lewis being killed in a hit and run. It seemed so ironic that Lewis would die the same way his wife Valerie did but this was no laughing matter and he felt he owed it to pay respect to the man who had been a much better father figure to him for so long.

The office now had just one desk and Hathway had moved it so it faced the door and the entrance to the incident room where he could have a good view of all the officers that had worked with Lewis and Hathaway over the years. Such as Detective Constable Gurdip Sohal, DC Julie Lockhart who transferred to CID after DC Gerard "Dickhead" Hooper got promoted to Sergeant and left for the Met. There were many others too but I won't go too far into giving their names because we have to get on.

The moment Hathaway had got the news of Lewis's death he felt like someone had hit a hidden switch under his desk and a trap door openend up and Hathway fell though it. Detective Constable Peter Burke a newcomer to the Oxford Police Force had been the unlucky one to break the bad news to Hathaway regarding the death of Lewis. Hathaway could tell that Burke was struggling to tell him and he understood that but when Burke finally spat it out Hathaway was half way to falling over his desk and collapsing but Detective Sergeant Adrian Kershaw (who was Hathaway's best mate) and Detective Inspector Dana Laxton from the Sex Crimes Division stopped him just in time.

Hathaway knew that Lewis was not a young man and he knew that Lewis had been planning to retire for so long and when he finally took the plunge Hathaway instantly took on the role of DI. He and Innocent made a deal that once Lewis retired Hathaway would be promoted to Inspector on the spot. DCI Morse Lewis's old guvnor had died way before he could retire. So in a way Lewis had managed to beat Morse to retiring while he still could.

Later that day while Hathaway was decorating his newly refurbished office. DC Burke appeared at the door again looking more confident then the last time he had been sent to Hathaway's office. "What is it Pete" Hathaway asked looking annoyed. Burke held his ground as he answered the newly promoted Inspector's question.

"There's a Detective Ken Lewis to see you boss" Burke reported "According to Dawkins at the front desk he is the son of your old guvnor and he's transffered from The Australian Police Force.

Hathaway knew Lewis had a son that had moved to Australia after Valerie died but never knew that the boy was a copper like his father. Why the bloody hell was he here of all places? and why did the boy want to speak to Hathaway?

"Send him in Pete" Hathaway ordered. Pete nodded and left and a moment later a young man resembling a even younger version of Lewis appeared in the office. He seemed to be about the same age Hathaway was when he got made DC.

"Detective Sergeant Kenneth Lewis sir" The young man declared smartly displaying his warrant id badge. " I understand you worked for my dad and that you are married to my sister". Hathway noticed that Ken didn't seem emotional about what happened to his father. He supposed that the boy was still a bit angry at his father for tearing himself into a state when his mother died.

"That's right" came the puzzled reply "I assume you are here to pay your last respects". Ken scowled slightly this posh Uni copper had seen right through him. He didn't seem much different than Morse who was always well spoken and a tad pompous.

"Yes sir but I've also been assigned to work with you" Ken said trying his best to sound calm. Hathway could sense that Ken sounded irked but he figured that Ken was more annoyed that Hathaway was married to his older sister and the stepfather to his infant nephew rather than griefstricken over the death of his father.

"I wasn't aware I was getting a bagman so soon" said Hathaway sounding surprised "I was told that DC Tucker would be my bagman" He added sounding even more confused. Hathway was talking about Declan Tucker the orphaned teenager whom he and Lewis had met during the Lucas Emerton case severeal years earlier.

"Yeah but according to The Chief Tucker's being seconded to DS Bough" Ken replied. That sounded fair to Hathaway. Detective Sergeant Daniel Bough was a good copper and a nice enough bloke if not a bit slow when using the bathroom.

"Plus she and Laura felt that Dad would have wanted me to work with you" Ken explained.

Hathaway bit his lip at the mention of Doctor Hobson. She and Lewis had been close for so long and both Innocent and Hathaway had wanted the pair to get together and it had finally happenend. It was around the time Hathway started sitting The OSPRE course for promotion to Inspector. The relationship went on for about a year then Lewis popped the question to Laura and another year after that the two were married and Lewis and Hobson retired from their respective jobs and moved back to Newcastle leaving Lewis's old apartment to filled by Hathaway and Lynn who recently married.

Hathaway was still a DS when he started dating and eventually marrying Lynn much to the delight and surprise of Lewis but of course Hathaway could not be blamed for how beautiful Lynn was. She had gorgeous long brown hair and matching eyes that made Hathaway melt slightly when he first met her. She also had a great pair of nice smooth legs that always looked even longer in heels and Hathaway always found an excuse to touch them. Lynn was married to a man called Tim Gladstone orginally. The both of them moved from Manchester up to Woodstock. It had been a wonderful marriage but this soon changed when Lynn became pregnant with Lewis's grandson and Tim foolishly thought that Lynn cheated on him with Hathaway which was not true of course but she didn't deny that she felt rather taken with her dad's young friend whenever he was around.

Tim had taken that moment to rape and beat the hell out of his own wife and as you can imagine Lewis hit the roof when he found out and was very nearly suspended from duty after attacking the little shit. Thankfully Innocent knew the domestic situation and kept Lewis on until he chucked the job in.

Both Hathway and Burke were in charge of arresting and charging Tim with sexual assualt ,attempted murder on the baby, attempted manslaughter on Lynn and attempted GBH. The CPS came down on Tim like a sack of bricks and The Judge gave the idiot a life sentence behind bars and from that moment on Hathaway felt even more drawn to Lynn but hesistant to make a move until Lewis gave him the blessing.

Hathway turned his attention back to the young man in front of him and said calmly but firmly "I should you warn you Sergeant that here we do things slightly differently to the police in Australia and we run a tight ship and regardless of Inspector Lewis being your father you will get no special treatment from me or anyone in this station do you understand"?

This set off a firework in Ken's brain but he nodded firmly that he understood. "Where are you staying"? asked Hathway " Er my girlfriend and me found a rather nice place not too far from here" Ken replied sounding a bit nervous.

"Ah good you will be able to turn up on time when I need you" Hathaway said. He sounded a bit over professional than usual.

"Is that it sir"? Ken asked. He was begining to sound a bit bored with all this talk and he had plenty of stuff do when he got home. Which included unpacking boxes and moving furniture.

"Yeah that's it" Hathway replied. He shifted his attention back to decorating the office and Ken took that moment to leave gracefully when Hathway's voice called him back.

"By the way welcome aboard to the newly named Oxford Valley Police Force"

Ken turned round and gave a small nod and forced smile and walked out of The CID office.

**THE END**


End file.
